Panel-securing tie rod anchor bolt with offset anchor point



Dec. 11, 1962 v. R. SCHIMMEL 3,067,479

PANEL-SECURING TIE ROD ANCHOR BOLT WITH OFFSET ANCHOR POINT Filed May 23, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR: VERNON R. SCHIMMEL ATT' Y Dec. 11, 1962 v. R. SCHIMMEL 3,067,479

PANEL-SECURING TIE ROD ANCHOR BOLT WITH OFFSET ANCHOR POINT Filed May 23, 1960 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR: .%MMEL ATT'Y Dec. 11, 1962 v. R. SCHlMMEL PANEL-SECURING TIE ROD ANCHOR BOLT WITH OFFSET ANCHOR POINT Filed May 23, 1960 3 Sheets-Sheet .3

FIG. 6

FIG. 5

INVENTOR: VERNON R. SCHIMMEL its rates 3,067,479 PANEL-SECURENG TEE RS1) ANCHDR B0111 WHTH FFET ANCHGR PGINT Vernon R. Sehimrnel, Michigan City, 1nd,, assignor to Symons Gamp 8; Mfg. Co., Chicago, Iih, a corporation of Delaware Filed May 23, 1960, Ser. No. 39,968 3 Claims. (CL 2513l) The improved tie rod anchor bolt comprising the present invention has been designed for use primarily in connection with gang form installations wherein a large number of concrete Wall form panel units, which have been preassembled in their normal edge-to-edge relationship, may be handled as a unit in connection with large concrete installations. The invention is, however, capable of other uses and tie rod anchor bolts constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention may, with or without modification, be employed for tie rod anchoring purposes in individual situations wherever two adjacent panel units are to be secured together in edge-t0- edge relationship by combined spreader and tie rod assemblies. Irrespective, however, of the particular use to which the invention may be put, the essential features of the invention are at all times preserved.

The use of gang form sections, consisting of multiple panel unitsypreassembled as indicated above, is not novel. The use of such sections is frequently resorted to as a labor saving expedient, both from the standpoint of actual labor performed and of time consumed in effecting the installation. For example, the panel units may be preassembled to produce a gang of such units on the ground with considerable less effort than is required to assemble them in their final position in the concrete form installation, and thereafter the thus formed gang may be erected or hoisted into position in the form by the use of an overhead crane hoist or the like. After the concrete of a given installation has been poured and has become set, the various gangs may be left intact and stripped from the form, again utilizing an overhead hoist. The gangs may thus be reused in a subsequent installation, either in their original condition, or they may be modified by the addition of one or more panels or by the removal thereof.

While the use of gang form sections as outlined above has afforded advantages of both time and labor saved, their use is not without limitations. Principal among these limitations is the difliculty of stripping the gang form sections from the hardened concrete. This difficulty is particularly great where prefabricated panel units having marginal steel frames are employed. By way of explanation, the present tie rod anchor bolt is particularly useful in connection with prefabricated panel units of the type shown and described in copending United States patent application Serial No. 854,967, filed on November 23, 1959, now Patent No. 2,997,769, by George F. Bowden and entitled Tie Rod Assembly for Concrete Wall Form Panels. Panel units of this type are preassembled at the factory rather than in the field and they are comprised of rectangular plywood panel facings which are reinforced by frame members including vertical and horizontal marginal members and any intermediate cross members which may be desired. The marginal frame members are of shallow channel shape in transverse cross section with the channels opening outwardly of the panel unit so that when adjacent panel units are brought together in their proper edge-to-edge relationship, a narrow void is created between adjacent marginal frame members. The channel sides are notched at spaced regions therealong so that the looped end of a tie rod may be inserted through registering notches and the loop captured and anchored within the void by the passage of a conventional wedge bolt transversely through registering openings in the channel Webs, as Well as through the tie rod loop. Thereafter a wedge is passed through the bolt and the various parts are thus locked in position. The tie rod, of course, functions as such to prevent the form walls from bulging under the influence of the wet concrete, while the Wedge and bolt cooperate to draw the two adjacent panel units tightly together in their edge-to-edge relationship.

The tie rods are expendable in that after the concrete has been poured between the forms and allowed to harden and the forms removed by withdrawal of the wedge and bolt assemblies, the tie rods remain embedded in the concrete with their looped ends projecting outwardly from the opposite sides of the concrete structure. At points near the face of the concrete structure where the tie rods project outwardly, the rods are provided with weakened portions, known as break backs, which facilitate breaking off of the projecting ends of the rods with the break taking place a short distance beneath the surface of the concrete.

When gang sections comprised of panel units of this type are used in a concrete installation, considerably difficulty is encountered in stripping the gang sections from the hardened concrete. Concrete seepage into the narrow void between adjacent marginal frame members through the registering slots, and into the tie rod loops, as well as around the edges of the slots through which the wedges are driven, creates a bond between the gang form section and the concrete wall at multiple spaced regions of the section. Considering, for example, a gang form section having thirty-six panel units arranged in edge-to-edge fashion, there may be as many as two hundred such bonds between the gang form section and the concrete wall, which bonds must be broken before the section can be freed. Not only does the seepage concrete create a bond at each region of seepage, but this concrete material obstructs withdrawal of the enlarged tie rod loops from the slots through which the tie rods pass, frequently presenting a much greater resistance to pulling of the gang form section than is created by the concrete bond alone. Due to the fact that with conventional tie rods and tie rod bolts the end loop portions of the tie rods are confined and concealed within the channel voids existing between adjacent marginal frame members, these tie rod ends are inaccessible for break back purposes.

The present tie rod bolt with its offset anchor point is designed to overcome the above noted limitation that is attendant upon the use of conventional tie rod bolts in connection with the formation and use of gang form sections and, toward this end, it contemplates the provision of a bolt having the usual slotted bolt shank to accommodate insertion of a wedge therethrough in the usual manner and also having an offset anchor lug for the tie rod loop which, when the bolt is in its operative position, falls well outside the confines of the form and of the channel void. The function of the bolt in drawing adjacent panel units together remains substantially the same as with conventional bolts, but because of the outwardly offset tie rod anchor point, the tie rod may be extended completely through the mating marginal channel members and the tie rod loop caused to encompass the external anchor point so that, after the bolt has been removed preparatory to stripping of the gang form section from the hardened concrete mass, break back operations may be performed upon the tie rod While the gang section is still in position on the wall and immediately prior to the stripping operation. Such break back operations are made possible because, after the bolt has been knocked from its operative position, the tie rod end which protrudes a few Patented Dec. 11, teen spe /gave inches beyond the channel members through which it passes is readily accessible for twisting operations to effect the break back. With the break back completed, the problem of a seepage bond is greatly minimized inasmuch as during the break back operation much of the seepage concrete is fractured and thus loosened while at the same time the tie rod end with its loop is removed so that it no longer presents and obstruction to stripping of the gang form section.

It is among the principal objects of the present inven tion therefore, to provide a novel tie rod bolt for prefabricated panel units of the type briefly outlined above which will enable the break back operation to be performed prior to the stripping operation instead of requiring the stripping operation to be performed first, in order to render the tie rod accessible for the break back operation.

Another and important object of the invention is to provide such a tie rod bolt which retains all of the advantageous functions of a conventional tie rod bolt and which may be applied to a pair of adjacent panel units and removed therefrom in substantially the same manner and with the same facility as is required in connection with the application of a conventional tie rod bolt.

Inasmuch as the tie rod bolt of the present invention requires the use of a tie rod wherein the tie rod loop is extended from the adjacent break back point a greater distance than heretofore, it is a further object of the invention to provide a novel combination of a tie rod bolt and tie rod capable of advantageous use in connection with the construction and use of gang form sections in a concrete wall form installation.

With these and other objects and advantages in view, which will become more readily apparent as the following description ensues, the invention consists of the novel combination, construction and arrangement of parts shown in the accompanying three sheets of drawings forming a part of this specification.

In these drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a gang form section utilizing tie rod anchor bolts constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention and showing the section undergoing handling by an overhead crane hoist;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view, somewhat schematic in its representation, of a gang form section in position in a concrete wall form installation and illustrating the manner in which it may be prepared for stripping operations;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a portion of the structure shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary detail perspective view of a portion of the structure shown in FIG. 2 in the vicinity of one of the tie rod bolts of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a further enlarged plan view of one of the improved tie rod bolts of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the structure shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of the tie rod bolt and its associated wedge and tie rod end, showing these parts in the relative positions they assume in an actual installation; and

FIG. 8 is an exploded perspective view similar to FIG. 7 showing a tie rod and wedge assembly of the type employed for holding the section of an individual detached gang form assembly in contiguous relationship.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and in particular to FIG. 1, an overhead hoist 10 forming a part of a crane assembly 12 is shown as being operatively connected in hoisting relation to a gang form section 14 consisting of a group of twelve individual panel units 16 arranged in edge-to-edge relationship. The gang form section 10 is designed for use as a composite unit in the erection of a wall form assembly such as has been shown in FIG. 2 wherein front and rear form assemblies 18 and 20 respectively are disposed in spaced parallel relationship preparatory to pouring of wet concrete into the space or void 22 between the two assemblies.

The individual panel units 16 per se are purely conventional and no claim is made herein to any novelty associated with the same, such units being of the type shown and described in the heretofore mentioned copending patent application of George F. Bowden. Each units is in the form of a generally rectangular plywood facing 3t having a steel marginal reinforcing frame applied to the outer face thereof and consisting of marginal vertical and horizontal frame members 32 and 34 respectively. Intermediate horizontal frame members 36 extend across each panel unit and such members have their ends secured by welding to the opposed faces of the two vertical marginal frame members 32. The members 32 extend in contiguity at the juncture between the various panel units. The front and rear form assemblies, when in position in the concrete form assembly, are maintained in their spaced relationship by means of special tie rod and spreader devices designated in their entirety at 40 and which are designed for cooperation with the improved tie rod anchor bolts of the present invention in a manner that will be made clear presently. However, when the gang form assembly 14 is in its free detached state as illustrated in FIG. 1, the tie rods 40 are disassociated from the panel units and the adjacent units are held together by conventional wedge and bolt assemblies, waler members and waler reinforcing members, all in a manner that likewise will be set forth subsequently.

The vertical frame members 32 are of shallow channel shape cross section and each member includes inside and outside marginal ribs or flanges 42 and 44 respectively, and a connecting web portion 46 (see also FIG. 4-). A lateral flange 48 spaced inwardly a slight distance from the inside edge of each frame bar affords a right angle recess 5% in which the adjacent vertical edge of the plywood panel proper 30 seats with its inside face extending flush with the inside edge of the frame bars 32 and 34.

In erecting the concrete wall form assembly 18, iii, utilizing gang forming operations, the various gangs may be performed on the ground or other supporting surface in a horizontal position by bringing pairs of adjacent panel units into contiguity with the adjacent frame bars 32 abutting each other so that the respective ribs 42 and 44 are in edge-to-edge relationship, while the web portions 46 remain slightly separated. At vertically spaced regions along the marginal ribs 42 and 44, pairs of transversely registering notches 54 are provided and these notches, when the frame bars are in contiguity, define therebetween horizontal channel voids 55 adapted to receive therethrough the tie rods proper of the tie rod and spreader assemblies 40. A rectangular hole or slot 56 is formed in the web portion 56 at the horizontal level of each pair of notches 54 and is adapted to receive therethrough T- bolt and wedge assembly devices 60 of conventional design whereby the frame members 32 may be drawn tightly together. The horizontal frame members 34 are substantially identical in their construction with the vertical frame bars 32 and, to avoid needless repetition of description, similar characters of reference have been applied to the corresponding parts of both frame bar disclosures.

It is to be noted that the conventional T-bolt and wedge assemblies 60 which hold the various panel units 16 together in the composite gang form section 14 are disposed in and about alternate mating pairs of slots 56 in the various frame members, or at least in certain selected pairs of registering slots, while other alternate pairs of slots 56 are devoid of fastening devices. The latter slots 56 are adapted to be employed in combination with the tie rod anchor bolts of the present invention for connecting the opposite ends of the tie rods 40 to the form assemblies 18 and 20 when the gang form section 14 is operatively disposed in the concrete wall form assembly.

Each T-bolt and wedge assembly 60' involves in its general organization a T-bolt 62' and a wedge 64, the bolt being in the form of a fiat steel stamping of generally T- shape in plan and having a body or shank portion 66 of elongated design provided witha T-head 68 at one end thereof providing shoulders 70 designed for engagement with the web portion 46 of a vertical marginal side frame member 32 when the shank portion 66 is passed through the rectangular slot 56 of the web portion. The outer or distal end region of the shank 66 is tapered to facilitate insertion of the shank portion through the slot 56. The shank portion 66 is formed with an elongated slot 74 therethrough designed for reception of the wedge 64, the latter being in the form of a flat rectangular steel stamping. When the shank portion 66 is passed through a pair of registering slots 56in adjacent vertical members 32 and the wedge 64 is inserted through the slot 74, the straight edge or side of the wedge bears against one of the web portions 46 of the adjacent vertical member 32 and this side, in combination with the shoulders 70, serves to draw the two abutting vertical marginal frame members 32 together in the usual manner of installation of such wedge assemblies.

Although they may not be required for strengthening purposes in installations which are not assembled with the use of gang form sections as the section 14, to stiffen the gang form section as a whole and enable it to be handled by the overhead hoist l0, conventional walers 80 may be applied to the rear sides of the gang form section 14 and secured in position by suitable fastening means, as for example waler clamping devices of the type shown and described in copending United States patent application Serial No. 759,093,-filed on- September 4, 1958, now Pat out No. 2,964,194, by John E. Imonetti and entitled Waler Clamp for Concrete Wall Form. Additionally, waler liners 82 may be applied to the walers by conventional U- bolt clamping assemblies 84 to align the walers.

Referring now to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, when the gang form section 14 is applied in the concrete wall form installation, the various slots 56 which are not used in the preparation of the gang form section are employed for tie rod anchoring purposes. Accordingly, the ends of each of the various tie rod and spreader devices 40, which hereinafter will be referred to simply as tie rods, project completely through the two pairs of aligned slots 54 provided for them in the vertical and horizontal marginal frame members 32 and 34 respectively and through the internal voids 55. These tie rods 40 are similar to conventional tie rods but are modified in a manner that will be set forth presently to enable them to project completely through the channel members 32 and 34 and present their outer looped ends at points spaced outwardly of the form installation.

Each tie rod assembly 40 consists of a tie rod proper having looped ends which are reversed upon themselves to provide elongated loops 63 designed for reception therethrough of certain portions of the novel tie rod anchor bolts of the present invention. Flattened frangible break back portions 65 facilitate removal of the projecting end regions of the tie rods after the poured concrete has hardened as is well known in the art. The notches 54 in the marginal ribs 44 afiord clearance regions for the tie rods to pass through the mating channel members and the length of the tie rod ends outwardly of the break back portions 65 is somewhat longer than is customary in connection with conventional tie rods to enable the looped ends 61 to assume their outwardly spaced positions in the concrete form assembly.

The tie rod anchor bolt of the present invention has been designated in its entirety at 100 and it involves in its general organization a nearly flat steel stamping of generally rectangular C-shape design having a body portion 102 from which there extends laterally at one end thereof a bolt section proper 104 and from the other end of which there extends laterally a tie rod anchor section 106 in the form of a generally rectangular anchoring finger. The inside edge 108 is notched as at 110 6 for clearance purposes as will be described subsequentlyr The portion of the bolt in the vicinity of the recess and bolt portion proper 104 is similar to and functions in the manner of a conventional T-bolt such as one of the T-bolts 62 previously described. The body portion 102 beyond the recess 110 and the tie rod anchor extension 106 may be regarded as an integral addition to a conventional T-bol-t to serve special tie rod anchoring functions according to the present invention. As best seen in FIG. 6, the plane of the tie rod anchor section 106 is slightly offset from the plane of the bolt section proper 104 for tie rod clearance purposes as will be explained in connection with the use of the bolt 100. As seen in FIG. 5, the outline of the bolt 100 is rectilinear throughout except for the provision of a distal tapered end region 112 on the bolt section proper 104. The usual wedgereceiving slot 114 is formed in the bolt section proper 104.

As shown in FIG. 4, after the gang form section 14 has been brought into operative position in the form assembly, the tie rod anchor bolt 100 is applied to a pair of adjacent panel units 16 by first inserting the bolt section 104 proper through a pair of the aligned slots 56 and driving a conventional triangular wedge 64 through the slot 114 in the bolt section to its home position. This operation serves to securely position the bolt 100 in position on the panel units while at the same time the clamping action of the conventional bolt and wedge assemblies 40 is further enhanced. The insertion of the bolt section proper 104 may be made through the slots 56 in either direction, i.e. horizontally to the right or left where vertical mar-ginal frame members are concerned or upwardly or downwardly where horizontal marginal frame members are concerned. In either event, the body portion 102 of the bolt 100 will project outwardly of the concrete form installation with the tie rod anchor section 106 being spaced from but aligned with the pairs of registering notches 54 in the side flanges 42 and 44 of the channel members.

Prior to insertion of the bolt section 104 through the slots 56, a tie rod end is passed through the channel void 55 and its looped end caused to be entered by the anchor section 106 of the bolt 100. The various parts are thus securely locked in position.

It is to be noted at this point that the previously described offsetting of the tie rod anchor section 106 and the bolt section proper 104 afiords a clearance for passage of the linearly straight tie rod 40 through the channel void 55 and past the body portion 102 of the bolt.

After concrete pouring operations and after the poured concrete has become set, the gang form sections 14 may be substantially freed from its bond with the hardened concrete merely by knocking out the bolts 100. This may be accomplished by the simple expedient of directing an impact blow against the distal projecting end of the bolt section proper 106. With the bolt removed, the tie rod end is free and it may be twisted relative to the embedded body portion of the tie rod to effect the break back in the usual manner. The bolt removal and tie rod twisting operations will, ordinarily, serve to effect a certain amount of fracturing of any seepage concrete which may have entered the channel void 55 so that the gang form section 14 may readily be stripped from the hardened concrete mass by the application of a moderate amount of stripping force.

The conventional bolt and wedge assemblies 60 which occupy positions in the vicinity of the slots 56 which are not employed for tie rod anchoring purposes, are not removed from the gang form section. These conventional assemblies 60, together with the walers and waler liners 82 serve to retain the component panel units 16 of the gang form assembly and to strengthen and rigidify the gang form section as a whole during handling operations both in applying the gang form section to the installation or in stripping the same therefrom.

The invention is not to be limited to the exact arr-angement of parts shown in the accompanying drawings or described in this specification as various changes in the details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention. Only insofar as the invention has particularly been pointed out in the accompanying claims is the same to be limited.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a concrete wall form installation, the combination with an erected concrete wall form including a pair of prefabricated panel units having marginal frame members disposed in abutting relationship, there being a pair of aligned slots in said abutting frame members, and means in the vicinity of said slots defining a void between said frame members, of atie rod assembly for operative- 1y connecting said panel units to a pair of similar panel units in the installation, said tie rod assembly including a tie rod proper having a looped end, an anchor bolt having a medial body portion from which there extend laterally and in the same direction from the ends thereof a bolt portion proper and a tie rod anchor portion respectively, there being a slot formed in said bolt portion proper, said bolt portion proper projecting through the aligned slots in said marginal frame members, and a wedge passing through the slot in said bolt portion proper and bearing against a face of one of said marginal frame members and serving to clamp the other frame member against the body portion, said body portion ex tending alongside said other frame member and said laterally extending anchor portion being spaced outwardly from said marginal frame members, said tie rod proper projecting between said frame members and through said void and having its looped end encompassing said anchor portion.

2. In a concrete wall form installation, the combination with an erected concrete Wall form including a pair of prefabricated panel units having marginal frame members disposed in abutting relationship, there being a pair of aligned slots in said abutting frame members, and means in the vicinity of said slots defining a void between said frame members, of a tie rod assembly for operatively" connecting said panel units to a pair of similar panel units in the installation, said tie rod assembly including a tie rod proper having a looped end and a frangible break back spaced inwardly from said end a distance appre- 8. cia'bly greater than the overall transverse width of said panels including said marginal frame members, said tie rod proper projecting horizontally through said void and having its looped end disposed outwardly of said marginal frame members and in horizontal registry with said void, an anchor bolt in the form of a plate-like body including a fiat body portion from which there extend laterally and in the same direction from the ends thereof a flat bolt shank and a fiat tie rod anchor finger respectively, there 'being a slot in said bolt shank, said bolt shank projecting completely through the aligned slots in said marginal frame members, and a wedge passing through said latter slot and serving to force said marginal frame members together and against an edge of said body portion, said body portion extending alongside one of said marginal frame members and said anchor finger being spaced outwardly from said marginal frame members and in horizontal register with said void, said tie rod proper having its looped end encompassing said anchor finger.

3. In a concrete wall form installation, the combination set forth in claim 2 and wherein the general plan s of said fiat bolt shank and anchor finger are parallel and spaced slightly from each other and are disposed at a slight incline to the general plane of the body portion of the anchor bolt.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,552,913 Danielson Sept. 8, 1925 2,273,198 Hillberg Feb. 17, 1942 2,433,934 Symons Jan. 6, 1948 2,526,529 Arrighini et a1. Oct. 17, 1950 2,613,424 Kenney Oct. 14, 1952 2,702,420 Williams Feb. 22, 1955 2,882,583 Arrighini et a1. Apr. 21, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,148,725 France June 24, 1957 725,131 Great Britain Mar. 2, 1955 517,104 Italy Feb. 26, 1955 OTHER REFERENCES Symons catalog No. F-S, pages 4 and 33, Symons Clamp & Mfg. (10., Chicago 39, Illinois; 

